DEAL! The one word we see probably as much as the word HOLIDAY during this season, and perhaps even more so. On Monday alone, there were 433,635 tweets and 674,029 Facebook mentions of CYBER MONDAY, the day known for exceptional online bargains. I won’t lie, I may have lurked a few travel websites here and there to see where I could potentially fly to for less, or looked up the hashtag on Twitter to peer into what my tweeps were suggesting the go-to-deals were.

For those brands who aren’t entirely sure whether or not to ride the Cyber Monday wave, 2014 marked the most profitable year of all time, with consumers spending over 2 billion dollars on those marked down items. (TIME magazine)

Source: Statista 2014

Here are some key learnings from this years #CyberMonday campaigns:

1. PRE – PROMOTION

Where would you want to spend your precious time (and money) online? A page you know for sure is holding a sale or on some brands site who could be having a deal? Expedia.com had a literal countdown to their Black Friday sale, so all though other travel sites were joining in on the deal excitement, this is the page I watched as the time ticked down to zero and ended up buying a plane ticket from. (Jamaica here I come!)

Expedia | Black Friday countdown

2. Be crystal clear about the sale you’re offering

PEOPLE ARE LAZY, I mean come on we’re buying expensive items from the comfort of our big, plush, comfy couch whilst being draped in our favourite blankets. You literally need to take us to the deals, show us the WAY!

Target’s | Cyber Week Sales

3) Implement an Urgent Call to Action

I don’t know about you, but my parents always told me to sleep on a decision. This rule of thumb is what I usually follow, unless I don’t have time to sleep on it. Like these 1-day 40% off deals from Walmart. MUST.. BUY… NOW!

Walmart | Cyber Monday

4) Lastly, share on your social platforms!

We are social beings, and even more so social media beings. I mean Facebook alone has 1.2 billion monthly active users. (Business Insider) If you have fans online, tell them first! Give them the inside scoop and faster draw on everyone else, because they love you and you appreciate them.

Now, only 363 days until the next Cyber Monday sale, the countdown begins.